As is generally known, on an automatic photographic printer, sensitive photographic materials, such as monochromatic photographic papers or color photographic papers coated with a photosensitive layer containing image forming color substances such as a yellow dye, a magenta dye and a cyan dye (hereinafter referred to as "photographic papers"), are fed successively to the exposure unit for exposure in which optical images corresponding to images formed on an exposed and developed negative film are projected on the photographic papers, and then the exposed photographic papers are delivered successively to an automatic developing apparatus comprising a plurality of processing tanks for developing, fixing, stabilizing and washing, where the exposed photographic papers are subjected to developing, fixing, stabilizing and washing processes to complete the photographic printing process.
Recently, from the viewpoint of the quick delivery of photographs, there has appeared a tendency to regard completing a series of photographic processes including the development of negative films, printing images on photographic papers, developing the photographic papers and finishing the photographs at retail shops, such as camera shops, as advantageous. Accordingly, the development of an automatic printing and developing system having a comparatively compact and simple construction has been desired.
However, the conventional automatic photographic printer of such a kind has problems that a series of processes such as mounting photographic papers, exposure and conveyance of photographic papers are not automated perfectly and the integration of the developing unit and the printing unit is difficult, and has many drawbacks to be improved.
In such integrated automatic printing unit and developing unit, however, it is difficult to operate with a large efficiency said both units while forwarding continuously the sensitive photographic materials, because said both units are quite different in the maximum processing speed.